FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TRUMP EXCEEDED AUTHORITY TO REMOVE VENZUELANS UNDER THE ALIEN ENEMIES ACT

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

A federal court has ruled that President Donald Trump has exceeded the scope of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) though executive order that is being used to remove Venezuelan citizens 14 years and older from the United States.

In the order and opinion issued Thursday, federal judge Fernando Rodriguez in the Southern District of Texas asserted that Trump's use of the AEA cannot detain or remove them from the country.

The case, styled J.A.V. el al vs. Donald J. Trump, was filed by the Venezuelan petitioners who are being held a the EL Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas 

On March 15, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a Proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act (“AEA”), 50 U.S.C. § 21, and declaring that Tren de Aragua, a “designated Foreign Terrorist Organization[,] . . . is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.” 

Under the authority of the AEA, the President proclaimed that “all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.” 

Petitioners J.A.V., J.G.G., and W.G.H. are natives of Venezuela currently detained at the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas. They bring this action under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, alleging that by seeking to remove them from the United States based on the Proclamation, Respondents do so unlawfully and in violation of their due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. 

 Petitioners challenge that the President can invoke the AEA under the alleged circumstances, and also deny that they are members of TdA. They bring suit individually and as representatives of a class of persons within the Southern District of Texas whom the Respondents will seek to remove based on the Proclamation and the AEA. Petitioners seek a permanent injunction barring the Respondents from employing the AEA to remove them.

The Petitioners simultaneously filed a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (Doc. 3) to prevent Respondents from removing them or any putative class members.  On April 9, the Court granted the motion and enjoined Respondents from “transferring, relocating, or removing J.A.V., J.G.G., W.G.H., or any other person that Respondents claim are subject to removal under the Proclamation, from the El Valle Detention Center[,]” as well as from “transporting such persons outside of Willacy County or Cameron County, Texas, without an Order from the Court.”

The question that this lawsuit presents is whether the President can utilize a specific statute, the AEA, to detain and remove Venezuelan aliens who are members of TdA. As to that question, the historical record renders clear that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.

As a result, the Court concludes that as a matter of law, the Executive Branch cannot rely on the AEA, based on the Proclamation, to detain the Named Petitioners and the certified class, or to remove them from the country.

However, Rodriguez said that if the Trump Administration amends its order,  the conclusions of the court will not affect its ability to continue removal proceedings or enforcement of any final orders of removal issued against J.A.V., J.G.G., and W.G.H, or against any member of the certified class, under the Immigration and Nationality Act.